Asian share markets are firm today after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the US economy was still a ways off from levels the central bank wanted to see before tapering its monetary support.

The Hang Seng is up 1.4% while the Nikkei is trading lower by 0.9%. The Shanghai Composite is trading up by 0.3%.

In the US markets, Wall Street indices ended mixed with S&P 500 briefly hitting an intra-day record in a choppy session.

Overall, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1% while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.2%.

Back home, the Indian share markets have opened on a flat note, following the trend on SGX Nifty.

A total of 22 companies, including Wipro, Angel Broking, Tata Elxsi, L&T Infotech and Cyient are scheduled to announce their quarterly earnings today.

The BSE Sensex is trading up by 103 points. Meanwhile, the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 32 points.

L&T and Wipro are among the top gainers today. ONGC, on the other hand, is among the top losers today.

The BSE Mid Cap index has opened up by 0.3%. The BSE Small Cap index is trading higher by 0.5%.

Sectoral indices are trading mixed with stocks in the capital goods sector and IT sector witnessing buying interest.

Oil & gas stocks, on the other hand, are trading in the red.

Shares of L&T Technology and GHCL hit their 52-week highs today.

The rupee is trading at 74.48 against the US$.

Gold prices are trading down by 0.1% at Rs 48,275 per 10 grams.

Meanwhile, silver prices are trading up by 0.2% at Rs 69,520 per kg.

In news from the automobile sector, carmakers such as Tata Motors and Maruti are looking to leverage subsidies extended by the government to sell more electric cars to cab operators even though the fleet market is struggling due to the impact of Covid-19.

Electric cars come at a hefty premium over their CNG or diesel variants, but for cab drivers in states such as Maharashtra, Gujarat and Delhi they cost only marginally higher due to a number of sops extended by state and central governments.

If one combines sops extended by the center in the form of lower GST and faster adoption and manufacturing of electric (FAME) incentive and those offered by some states, like zero registration fee, an electric compact sedan to be used as a taxi will come at 25-30% discount.

In rupee terms, a benefit of Rs 3-3.5 lakh.

For example, a Tata Tigor EV in Delhi would cost Rs 11-12 lakh without incentives. However, after deducting state and central subsidies along with benefits on zero registration fees, it may cost Rs 7.5-8 lakh on road.

Comparable with a Maruti Suzuki Dzire CNG, that would cost Rs 6.8 lakh to Rs 7.5 lakh in Delhi.

Tata Motors said it plans to launch a range of CNG cars under the brand very soon.

Tata Motors' share price and Maruti Suzuki's share price have opened the day up, on a flat note.

Moving on to news from the retail sector, Titan is among the top buzzing stocks today.

Ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala has reduced his stake in Titan for the third consecutive quarter.

Titan is one of the widely known stocks in Jhunjhunwala's portfolio.

Jhunjhunwala cut his stake by 0.25% in the company in June 2021 quarter.

He and his wife together held a 5.5% stake in Titan as of September 2020, which they reduced to 5.3 percent in December 2020.

Further, it was cut to 5.1% in March 2021. Now, after the June 2021 quarter, their stake in the company stands at 4.8%, according to BSE data.

As per the shareholding pattern in June 2021, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala reduced his stake in Titan to 3.72% in June 2021, from 3.97% in March 2021.

His wife's stake remained unchanged at 1.09%.

Meanwhile, LIC raised its stake in Titan to 3.96% in June quarter, from 3.91% in March quarter.

Titan's share price has opened the day down by 0.9%.

Speaking of the country's largest watchmaker, here's interesting data on Titan...

Even a tiny investment of Rs 1,000 per month in the stock of Titan, since 2002, would have led to mouth-watering returns.

Take a look at how the power of compounding has gone wild here...